As we begin gearing up for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group’s upcoming Annual Meeting in Chengdu, we can’t help but reflect on the conclusions of the 2018 gathering in Mendoza, Argentina, where one message was resoundingly clear: to advance development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), we must work in greater coordination than ever before.

For almost half a century, Canada has been a strong partner of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). It joined the IDB, the world’s oldest and largest regional development bank, in 1972. Yet Canada has been an IDB partner for much longer, first engaging the Bank in 1964 by creating the Canadian Fund with the equivalent of $47.2 million to support investments in physical infrastructure.

In Vila Castelo, a small town in the Brazilian state of Pará, fisherwomen are learning the ropes of fiscal management and entrepreneurship
Traditional fishing does not differ much today from what it has been since biblical times—a boat, a net, and a few men. Wait. Men? Maybe it has changed after all. At least in Vila Castelo, a tiny fishing village in Brazil’s state of Pará, women fish alongside men.

In the Colombian town of Apartadó, women are shaping a new beginning after years of violence
Bullets, poverty, and unemployment have taken a big toll on many locations in Colombia.
Take Apartadó, for example—a 167,000 people municipality in northwestern Colombia ravaged by a fierce, decades-old guerrilla war that has forced a large portion of its population to leave. Fully 60 percent of those who have chosen to stay barely scrape a living below the poverty line.

The sevenfold increase in tourism in Costa Rica over the past 25 years has brought with it the challenge to improve the country’s major airport to comfortably accommodate that influx. Costa Rica has stepped up to that challenge by transforming the Juan Santamaría International Airport into one of the best airports in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A decade ago, the only way to transport goods from the Port of Callao in Lima to the northern part of Peru was on the 183-kilometer Ancón-Huacho-Pativilca road system, a maze of narrow two-lane roads through a series of densely populated areas. For trucks transporting cargo the countless traffic jams cost precious time and money. For the local populations, the costs were felt in terms of congestion, noise and road safety.

After a decade looking for her first job, Sugey González has finally achieved her goal. This Dominican young woman recently started working as an attorney at a prestigious consulting firm in Santo Domingo. “It was a very tough reality, because you think you’ll go straight from the university to a job and that’s not how it was, because I had no work experience.”

Public development banks represent 10 percent of lending in Latin America and the Caribbean
Public Development Banks (PDBs) in Latin America and the Caribbean provide more than $700 billion in loans annually and possess the operational and financial heft to expand into areas such as climate change mitigation and productive development policies, according to a study released today by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Lower prices and new technologies are making solar, wind and other resources competitive with fossil fuels for power generation
Latin America and the Caribbean’s renewable energy endowment is large enough to cover its projected 2050 electricity needs 22 times over, according to a new report commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).